


doesn't matter how long you last, 'cause i have rigged the game

by erintoknow



Series: Aria-Rough Drafts [10]
Category: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén, Fallen Hero: Rebirth (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Mind Control, POV Female Character, POV Second Person, Trans Character, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 13:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20676380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erintoknow/pseuds/erintoknow
Summary: Strike up the band, It's showtime.And Lady Argent? You get to be the star singer.





	doesn't matter how long you last, 'cause i have rigged the game

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from [[Bad Dance by Sleater-Kinney]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpOw0GdlBmo)

It had been a simple process of elimination.

Ortega? Immune. Also, no way.

Chen? Hate him.

Herald? Golden boy, the replacement. No.

Lady Argent ‘won’ by virtue of no strong feelings either way. That’s what this called for, can’t risk leaving any echoes of yourself that could give you away later.

At least, that’s how you think it works. Possession on this kind of scale has never been heard of, to your knowledge. It’s not like there’s a manual to pull out.

_God_, you wish there was a manual.

Would it have been better to find a different way to get the nanovores? Not getting them wasn’t an option. They were going to be the linchpin of the whole suit. Your greatest triumph, now brought to bear against your darkest hour. It had to be them. A sample was stored on-site in the Rangers vault. Like one keeps the last remnants of a once deadly contagion And who else had both the access and the ready excuse to walk in except one of the Rangers?

Besides, you’ve working to a tight time schedule. The weeks of prep-work just to get the chance to possess Argent had already been veering on too much. But this had to go perfectly.

Rented room, across the street from the physical therapy clinic Argent visited every week. Wait until she’s on her way out, most relaxed. Then–

Reach out

This is the only way. Sorry chickadee, here comes the net.

Cables, like snakes in the grass, coiled around the feet, the red threads that bind your wrists wrapping hers – sinking into her –

her thoughts are your thoughts

your thoughts are her thoughts

Wrap the song around, time to march to another drummer sweetheart. You think about her stretching out her hand in front of her face, flexing fingers, watch through her eyes as she does it. Isn’t it lighter, easier, to have someone else call the shots? Trust you, you would know.

Flash of green, reflection in glass shards.

The safe thing to do is to let her rest, sleep, but this is a delicate operation and her mind is buzzing under your baton like an angry swarm. Got to ride the lightning, just awake enough to access the vault, just asleep enough to not cast you out. Something like a REM from hell. Ghosts on the walls, the song you remember but the words you forget.

This is the kind of thing that scares people for life. But what do you care? You’re beyond caring. This is survival – no – revenge. Who cares about living?

You’ll burn down the world first. And soon you’ll have the match.

It’s hard not to laugh. and is it her adrenaline or yours – your heart or yours – that’s pounding in your ear? The woman of steel, playing to _your_ tune? You let Argent grin, note the couple on the street that shy away. Strike up the band, it’s showtime.

And you, she, the both of you, are doing so well, _so well_. Walk in no sweat, pass the security. Her vision is a fascination: a web of electric thrumming. The city beats in ways you only dreamed of. She gets to live this?

Focus! You have to. Stay. In. Control.

Get the box. Who will question you? _You_? Lady Argent. That’s who you are. Don’t look – and Herald!? Fuck why is Herald here? Argent’s mind bucks under the strings, scattering notes and stepping on flats and fuck fuck fuck it’s all going to be ruined at the last moment you need to get out.

Reach forward, sock it to Herald right in the face. _Oh_? You both liked that, curious. Trouble in paradise? Time to run. There’s about to be more.


End file.
